Marketing to hotel managers

[FreedomLuvr]

Hey everyone. I'm working with a company that is planning to offer training sessions on the East Coast to hotel managers who wish to improve the luxury status of their hotel, i.e. quality service, appearance, customer management, etc.

I'm wondering if any of you have ideas of how to market the training sessions to hotel managers (or people intending to be hotel managers) that are primarily in their mid-20s... Where do these people tend to be looking? Online? Printed media?

Any ideas would be great! Thanks!

[ozetel]

I would think it is quite a specialised industry. is there registered bodies that they become members of? Are there actual magazines in the catering industry specifically for the luxury hotels area? I woudlnt think there would be that much online for them really as it is seems to specific.

I feel like it would be all about "relationship" and connection - so meeting with the correct person would be the way to go. Creating a presentation on power point or slide show - something that is very professional and classy. Sitting in front of them and presenting and creating the relationship. If possible, a track record would be great but obviously difficult as you grow.

Maybe getting to the training institutes to get a hold of emerging hoteliers.

Dont have any experience in this area of course but hey, get creative, be different and stand out - good luck!

[KristineS]

There's the American Hotel and Lodging Association (http://www.ahla.com/) and the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (http://www.hamagroup.org/). The second one seems like it would be a perfect fit for your training program. There's also HotelManagement.net (http://www.hotelmanagement.net/hotel-management). Any of those organizations might be some help. I looked for a regional association of East coast hotel managers, but didn't find anything.

[Harold Mansfield]

I live in what is probably the hotel/resort capitol of the country and I have to say, they are light years past that kind of thing. They are all corporate owned and have entire departments of people with million dollar budgets that are responsible for the things that you are seeking to train individuals on.

So I can't exactly fathom that working out here in this market, but maybe with independently owned hotels.

[Gabe]

As Harold mentioned you'll likely have to go after independent establishments. The chains have already invested millions in that type of process. You could build a relationship with a company like hotelpropeller.com who likely has all independent clients. You could also just Google '(location) reservations/hotels' and work on the ones towards the bottom and bring up their rankings/reputation.

Unfortunately, I assume your type of business doesn't lend itself to word of mouth since these establishments do not want more local competition. As Kristine mentioned, checking out hotel associations might be helpful. If you could present at industry conferences you might see some success. If companies like the stuff you're putting out in the presentation they may consider bringing you on as a consultant. Also look into starting a blog and becoming an authority in the space if you aren't already.

[myQRad.com]

I think Social Media might be the best avenue to find these people. LinkedIn in particular might work quite well. You can search through the groups and find some that are relevant to your niche.

[Steve B]

Luxury hotel managers in their mid-20's. You might be able to find 3 or 4 of them in the whole country. You might want to expand your target to at least include the managers in their 30's.